Peter Rost: Election Creates Panic Among Drug Makers
Peter Rost has a great guest editorial on Buzzflash.com
Few recent elections have been as critical for the drug industry as this one. And that's the reason the Wall Street Journal reports that "Assailed by Democrats, drug companies are pouring millions of dollars into close races, giving some Republicans a financial edge."What is at stake is a financial windfall the size of which has never before been endowed on a single industry, courtesy of the current administration. And that windfall is coming from drugs for poor people.
By some estimates the windfall for the drug industry could be $2 billion or more this year, and it is the result of the transfer of millions of poor people into the new Medicare Part D program. Under this program, the prices paid by the taxpayer, for the medications given to those unable to pay for drugs, are likely to be higher than what was paid under the Medicaid programs.